The Greatest Show on earth
by Filomene Hara
Summary: Let's see ... Well let's put it this way. Literally just before the events of the cirque unfold Darren learns a shocking thing. He's a demon. he learns about being a demon and fighting from... Amaimon. Hang on thisll be a fun ride. t bcus im paranoidxD
1. Chapter 1

Greatest show on earth

Darren Shan wasn't exactly your average normal kid. He had an unnatural love of spiders; of course his abnormalities didn't end there. But even he didn't know that. His best friend was the only one who understood him; he didn't care if others thought him weird if his best friend Steve would still be there to understand him. However maybe that understanding will only go so far...

Darren Shan was playing soccer with his friends and some older boys, there was money riding on this game so they had to win. Without even realizing Steve and Darren had made a strategy work flawlessly. Alan and Tommy the other two members of the team were stunned when they saw the teamwork the two had make the winning goal. But they weren't the only ones watching.

"Hmmm..." A dark figure watching from above said sucking on a lollipop.

The older boys handed over the money that was promised. However when they counted it was only five Euros instead of the eight agreed on.

"Hang on you only gave us five!" The boy looked over his shoulder as he walked away.

"That's all you boys need." Darren ran up to him and demanded the rest of his money, but received a punch to the face for his efforts. Steve tapped the guy on the shoulder holding a large stick menacingly as he glared at him.

"What did you do to Darren?" It wasn't meant as a question to be answered. Steve swung the stick at him. The guy ducked and ran.

"That guy's creepy let's get outta here!" He said running the others followed.

"Why do you always have to get punched?" Steve asked helping Darren up. He simply smiled weakly at his friend.

"It's a gift I guess."

The four were walking home together after the game and the fight. Darren couldn't help but get the feeling he was being watched. But he shrugged it off as unimportant or his imagination.

"Hey anyone want to go to my house?" Steve asked. Darren raised his arm in a stretch that made it look as though he was raising his hand.

"I'll go." He said bringing his arm down. Steve looked at the others in question.

"Sorry I have to pick something up for my mom." Alan said.

"My dad said he'd teach me boxing." Tommy said. Steve let them off knowing that Alan's mom was unwell at the moment and did need her son's help. And Tommy had been talking about wanting to learn boxing for a long time now. As they left they waved and called to Steve and Darren.

"Don't spend the entire time talking about spiders and cults okay!" Darren and Steve waved them off and laughed. They got to Steve's house and headed up the stairs. Steve's mom saw Darren and smiled sweetly at him.

"Ah Darren welcome, can I get you boys anything to drink?" Steve called down over his shoulder rudely.

"Champagne and Caviar." Darren looked from Steve and his mother

"Steve..." He turned to look at Darren.

"Aw she'll be fine." He said brushing it off, heading into Steve's room he noticed the newest things added to his collection. He looked particularly at a poster that depicted a man fighting off a horde of demons that said 'We need you! Join the exorcists today' in big bold letters.

"Where did you get this one?" He asked pointing to the poster. Steve looked up from reading one of his vampire comics.

"Oh I got that one from some cult website called True Cross." (Leave it to Mephy to create a website) Darren went and sat beside Steve looking over his shoulder at the comic he was reading.

They talked about the ways to kill the monsters and their strengths and weaknesses when Steve said something disturbing.

"I want to be a monster too..." The way he said it made it known to Darren that he was perfectly serious, however he tried to play it off as a joke, Darren laughed brushing off his unease. He looked at the time.

"Oh wow I didn't realize it had gotten this late..." He said getting up. Steve walked with him to the door and waved him out. Darren began running home thinking.

'Wanting to be a monster... When Steve says that it doesn't sound like a joke...' He was passing under a street lamp when someone grabbing him. He struggled futilely against the person only to be dragged through some strange gate, all he could smell was cherry lollipops.

He was dropped unceremoniously to the ground. He looked up to find a man looking down on him; he had green hair and a lollipop hanging from his mouth.

"Who are you?" Darren asked looking at him. Though his expression didn't change he was interested in this boy, or should he say his new little brother.

"I'm Amaimon king of the earth. But you can call me 'Big brother' or 'Nii san'."

An/ how's that for a beginning? All will be explained in the next chapter. I'm mainly following the manga for Darren Shan with a few things from the book. RnR Please...


	2. Chapter 2

Greatest show on earth/ Chapter 2

"Amaimon as in the demon?" Darren asked. That shouldn't be possible. But the man just looked at him in bored amusement.

"Of course, who else?" He said eating a green lollipop now.

"But that shouldn't be possible... Demons don't exist." He said. Amaimon simply stared at him; He took his tail from its hiding place and showed it to Darren.

"How can you say that little brother, you are a demon too." Darren was shocked.

"I'm not. I'm human I don't have a tail or anything!"He denied backing away from the man.

"That's because your powers were sealed." Amaimon said coming towards him Darren flinched back but was stopped by Amaimon's hand. He chanted a few things and suddenly an area near his heart began glowing.

"The seal is right next to your heart..." Darren looked at him.

"What does that mean?" Amaimon took another lollipop and placed it in his mouth nonchalantly.

"You'll probably die by the time your sixteen." He said

"How you be so calm when you tell me I'm going to die!"

"Because. Now I can leave the seal there and leave you to die as a human, or I could remove the seal." He said looking straight at Darren. Darren however was weighing the pros against the cons. Finally he deciding that living was worth becoming a demon. However before answering he finally took notice of where they were. I wasn't a room; it was more like dark empty space.

"Where are we?" He asked looking around.

"We are in a dimension one of our brothers created. Time runs slowly here. A year here would be a second in Assiah, that's your world. You won't age here either."

"Okay. Well if my other choice is dying young I think I'd rather become a demon." Amaimon, for the first time in Darren's presence (or ever) smiled.

"Okay then let's get started.

Amaimon removed the seal using a complicated ritual. Once remove Darren at himself for the first time as a demon. His eyes looked a little wilder, and he had a tail. Overall he felt he hadn't changed much, wait. His hair was tipped with dark crimson instead of just black. Fire had erupted around him when he'd first transformed. It had been blue with a little bit of purple. Amaimon had said he looked good. However Amaimon was a regular punk type with his tattered coat and skull style. That wasn't the style Darren wanted to go with.

"So uh Nii-san, what next?" Amaimon stared at his new little brother.

"Well now I should teach you about hiding your power..." Amaimon said taking out two more lollipops. This time he offered one to Darren who accepted a cherry.

Amaimon walked him through a lot of steps in teaching to conceal his powers and how to hide his tail. He also showed him some fighting moves and skills. Mastering everything took about a year in that dimension. Darren emerged from there a different person. Though not even a second had passed in Assiah Darren had changed greatly. Not in looks aside from the red tips to his hair, but in personality. He was running down the street home with a cherry lollipop in his mouth. A man held out a piece of paper for him to grab as he ran past. He said thanks around the lollipop in his mouth before he stopped suddenly.

"Hey this..." he looked back but there was no one there. Darren shrugged it off he hadn't sensed any dangerous vibes. He continued home holding the flier.

_Cirque du freak huh? Sounds interesting _Darren grinned slightly showing fangs.

The next day Darren Alan and Tommy were all sitting together in history class. They were talking about World War II. Steve was talking about how he wanted to become a mercenary and take part in wars and kill people.

"You sure like violence don't you Steve?" Darren said eating a cherry lollipop. People had asked him about his hair and new habit, luckily they hadn't noticed his pointed ears or his abnormally large canines. Steve went on in a tirade about the thrill of the fight while Darren took out the flier he had acquired last night. Tommy and Alan immediately noticed.

"What is that?" they both asked at the same time.

"Oh this is..." Steve grabbed it from his hand.

"Cirque means circus in French. Circus of freaks huh?" Steve said passing it around the table

"It's this coming Tuesday!" Tommy said.

"It looks really fun." Alan said. Darren still eating his lollipop read over the events. The thing that caught his eye the most was the performing spider. Alan Tried to get his attention and Steve just looked at him mockingly when Mr. Dalton took the advertisement out of his hand and pulled the lollipop out of his mouth.

"What is this?" He asked looking down at Darren menacingly.

"It's a lollipop, though some people call it a sucker." Darren stated attempting to grab his lollipop back, it was his last cherry one his favourite!

"Not that, this!" He said holding up the paper.

"And no eating in my class!" Darren returned his glare with a bored face that was almost exactly like Amaimon's.

"I believe that is a piece of paper with words and pictures, otherwise known as an advertisement."

"And where did you get it?" Mr. Dalton asked reading the advertisement. Darren tried to think up a good lie but Steve butted in. Standing up he proclaimed:

"It's mine sir." Steve was Mr. Dalton's favourite student so he got away with a lot of stuff.

"Yours, Steve?"

"Yeah, it looked interesting so I picked it up off the school grounds. I was going to ask you about it." He said looking completely innocent.

"Oh, well that's different, nothing wrong with an inquisitive mind." He said tacking the poster up on the board. He then went on to give them a lecture about the freak shows and how they were unethical. Darren tuned him out and pulled a blue raspberry lollipop out of his pocket. He ate it slowly. It was the last of the ones he had taken to school.

"I hope nobody here would want to go to one." Mr. Dalton finished.

"You'd have to be really cruel to want to go to one of those." Steve said. Mr. Dalton agreed keeping the advertisement he finished the class. Steve walked with Darren who was moping over the loss of his last cherry lollipop.

"We are going to that show." Steve said holding up the poster. Mr. Dalton had cut off the address but Darren remembered where it said to go. Alan and Tommy wanted to go to. But one ticket costs 20 Euro they didn't have that kind of money alone. But then Steve reminded them of their winnings from soccer. They had more than enough. Steve volunteered to get the tickets. Amaimon showed up suddenly.

"What are you up to?" He asked Darren the bored expression on his face never leaving.

"I'm out of candy." Darren stated. Amaimon tossed him two butterscotch candies and a cherry lollipop.

"Hey Darren don't you know you're not supposed to take candy from strangers?" Steve asked looking at the green haired man. To them he looked about sixteen.

"He's not a stranger." Darren replied popping a butterscotch candy into his mouth.

"I'm part of a high school student exchange program I live at Darren's house." Amaimon said eating his own lollipop.

"Yeah." Darren said though looking at Amaimon as though to say 'Really'. Amaimon nodded slightly. Steve, Alan, and Tommy accepted this. They split up and headed for home.

Darren and Amaimon made it to the house.

"I'm home!" Darren called. His mother walked out from the kitchen.

"Welcome home. Oh you must be Amaimon, nice to meet you." She said turning her attention to Amaimon.

"Yes I am thank you for inviting me to stay in your home." Amaimon said.

"No problem. Darren go take a bath before dinner." Darren left the hallway calling back:

"Okay!" He got to the bathroom and started the bath. Getting out of his clothes he allowed his tail to move freely and stretch from its cramped position under his shirt. He got into the bath and washed himself thinking about the performing spider from the cirque. Getting out of the bath and drying off he put a new pair of clothes on and headed out of the room.

He ate supper with his family and Amaimon in a good mood and even put away his dishes. Afterwards he went and sat down to watch anime.

"Your hiding something aren't you?" His sister asked.

"Nothing." He said in reply

"Come on!" Annie said persistently. Darren's dad got home soon after. They all said welcome back and his mother asked if he could turn down the sound, he did so without complaint and went to bed as soon as asked.

"My Darren your obedient today." His father remarked.

"Once in awhile Dad g'night" He said going up the stairs.

"Maybe it has something with our new housemate?" His father said looking at Amaimon who was sleeping on the couch.

Meanwhile Darren had relented to Annie and told her about the cirque.

"I wanna go too!" Annie whined on the other side of Darren's door.

"No kids allowed!" he said grinning. His tail was wagging excitedly.

"But you're a kid too!" She said but he had already gone to bed dreaming of spiders.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

Darren and the others arrived to school and immediately attacked Steve asking about the tickets. Steve brushed them off, telling them to wait until school was over. They all waited anxiously and couldn't concentrate on their classes. By the time school was over they were dying to find out about the tickets.

"Well what happened?" they all asked Steve at the same time.

"I've got good news and bad news." He said looking hard at all three of them.

"Well what is it?" they demanded. Steve held up two tickets to the show.

"Good news. I got the tickets, bad news I could only get two." The others had shock written on their faces.

"Apparently you could only get two tickets per flier." Steve said. Darren, Alan, and Tommy exchanged glances.

"So who should get the tickets?" They ventured, bowing their heads in thought.

"Well Steve should get one of the tickets, after all he risked it to go get them." Darren said. The others agreed with this and Steve accepted the ticket. It was decided that the other would be placed in a box with a bunch of other strips of paper and dumped from above. Darren summoned a small demon to grab the ticket when it fell. It was a demon that looked like a spider with wings. Once the papers dropped the spider zoomed in and grabbed the ticket directing it to where Darren was. He grabbed the ticket and showed it to the others. He couldn't help the satisfaction that came with seeing their envious faces, but he hid it well. He was a demon after all.

That night Steve and Darren were running to the show's revenue an abandoned theatre that was no doubt infested with goblins and maybe a ghost. They were rounding the corner when they saw their teacher and some cops harassing a little person in a blue cloak. We panicked about not being able to go to the show when suddenly the person lifted Mr. Dalton and tossed him aside before he kept running. Darren who had noticed the patched together look of his arms paired with the supernatural strength wondered if he wasn't actually a naberius, before he ran off after the naberius. Steve followed telling him to slow down. They reached the theatre quickly. He still wanted to find the naberius because with it running away from him it had become a game. Darren liked games. They entered the theatre and crashed into a _really _tall man.

"Hello boys. What might you be here for?" he asked. Darren looked up at him and popped a blue raspberry lollipop in his mouth.

"We're here for the circus." He said around the sucker. Steve nodded in agreement.

"Can I see your ticket?" He asked Steve, who pulled his ticket out and handed it to the man. The man then turned to him.

"And yours; Darren?" Darren handed it over then realized the man knew his name.

"How did you know my name?" He asked.

"I know many things..." He said, before eating the tickets.

They entered the theatre room and grabbed two vacant seats in the perfect place. There was a man holding a newspaper beside them. Suddenly he put down the newspaper and it turned out to be Amaimon.

"Yo." He said flatly.

"Nii-san! What are you doing here?" Darren whispered fiercely.

"I wanted to come." He said offering his little brother a cherry lollipop. This seemed to appease him since he dropped the subject. The man they ran into on the way in came out onto the stage and introduced himself as Mr. Tall. He then went on to warn them about the dangers and gave those who were scared the chance to leave. A few people did but most stayed. Amaimon cracked his lollipop loudly earning some glances and glares. Mr. Tall cleared his throat and whispered.

"The wolf man." Two pretty women came onstage pushing a cage with a hairy man who was growling inside. They were warned to be completely silent as the two ladies walked the wolf man through the crowd. Steve reached out and touched the man.

"It feels like a hedgehog and smells like burned rubber..." Steve said smelling his fingers. A woman further down the aisle screamed as she was pushed out of her aisle breaking the hypnotism. The wolf man lunged at the woman. Darren wiped away the grin that had been forming on his face and replaced it with a look of horror. Inside he was still grinning and laughing. Amaimon was grinning madly behind his hand. Steve, on the other hand didn't bother hiding his malicious grin. The woman's arm was torn off and Darren nearly burst out in laughter. He couldn't help it. It was his nature to feed off others suffering. Mr Tall appeared grabbing the wolf man and subduing him, ending the fun. One of the little naberius things came out and stitched her arm on good as new using a special powder Darren assumed was used in stitching ghouls together. He'd imagine that the woman was infected with temptaint now. Mr. Tall told everyone to let that be a lesson to them. After that the show went smoothly, and it was finally time for the spider. Darren was on the edge of his seat in anticipation. Mr. Crepsley came on stage with the spider in a cage. He began by proving how dangerous the spider was by having it stun the kill a goat that was larger than a human. Then he showed tricks that he could do with the spider. His final trick was the spider making a web over his mouth. He ate the web after Madame Octa was put in her cage.

"Mmmmm fresh spider web is a delicacy where I come from." He said before leaving the stage. Darren hadn't really noticed but Steve had been staring at Mr. Crepsley with something akin to recognition. The Show was supposedly over but Darren knew there was something missing. When people were filing out they found the way blocked by a huge snake. The snake boy came out and tamed the snake allowing the patrons to escape.

"That's truly all folks." Mr. Tall said sending them on their way. There were vendors outside. Darren bought a few souvenirs including a Madam Octa keychain but spent most of his money on the sweets and candy at the event. Suffice to say after walking the entire place he walked away with two bags of candy and a candy chain that went to the floor around his neck, though part of it was in his mouth. Amaimon had about twice that. Steve hadn't bought much, however he kept glancing back to the theatre until he finally said

"Darren go home by yourself." before running back into the theatre. Darren ducked up to the balcony to watch what happens. There he saw Steve and Mr. Crepsley have a confrontation.

"I know you're a vampire Vur Horston!" Steve said.

"And what do you plan to do with this information?" The vampire asked raising an eyebrow.

"I want you to turn me into a vampire!" Steve said looking more demonic than Darren or Amaimon. After a long discussion where Crepsley tried everything to dissuade him from this course he finally relented, testing some of Steve's blood. He quickly backed away in disgust. Darren cocked his head curiously; did the blood burn like holy water?

"You have devils blood, the murderer's instinct." Darren was further confused. As far as he knew Steve wasn't a demon, he was.

He decided to leave and walked off, a few goblins followed him. Darren chose to give them to Amaimon.

He walked home with Amaimon and arriving home he went straight to bed. Closing his eyes he hugged his tail and drifted to sleep thinking about Steve's wish to become a monster. Perhaps he hadn't been possessed yet because of Darren's presence. He fell asleep dreaming about exorcists coming after him because of Steve. Then killing Steve because he ate all the cherry lollipops.

The next morning Darren arrived to school late. Tommy and Alan pounced on him about the Cirque. At break Steve arrived and together they told the events of the circus in vivid detail. Darren handed out the trinkets and things he had bought for the other two; however he nearly ate Alan's hand when he tried to steal some of his candy. They laughed it off but they knew this strange version of Darren that had appeared with the red tips was very serious about his candy. Walking home they talked about the spider Madam Octa.

"How did he control him?" Alan asked.

"Didn't I tell you? With a magic flute." Darren said thinking about it.

"But you said others played flutes too." Tommy interjected. That was true, Darren thought.

"Telepathy." Steve said. The others turned to look at him silently asking for an explanation.

"Everyone has telepathy. Whether it's used like in soccer or subconsciously making someone else think the same thing. Anyone can use it. The flute is probably just a prop to get Madams attention." Steve explained. Darren nodded thinking about it. _Anyone can control her huh? _Darren decided he would kidnap the spider the next day. However getting home he went up to his room he found Amaimon already holding the spider.

"I got you this." He said holding out the spider in her cage. Darren's eyes widened.

"How did you get her?" Darren asked.

"I stole her, I left a note." He stated.

"What does the note say?" Darren asked concerned.

"You're a vampire I stole your spider not Steve." Darren had a feeling that was exactly what it said.

"That implicates me." Amaimon shrugged.

"You're a demon, much higher up the food chain." Darren just decided to give up, take the spider and see what he can do.

First he decided to see if Madam Octa was a demon by placing a drop of holy water on her. It rolled harmlessly off. Well that's a shame I wouldn't have needed the flute if she were a demon, Darren thought picking up the flute he began playing. He managed to get her to do some fantastic tricks. He tried at one point to see what he could get her to do with his tail. He had her hanging off the tip, Sliding down it, and wrapping it in her web. Darren had been so wrapped up in learning about the spider he ignored his friends, going home alone every day.

Steve decided to confront Darren. He caught up to him as he was walking home from school.

"You saw me talking to Vur Horston didn't you?" Darren was sucking on a cherry lollipop.

"Yep." He said simply. Steve was taken aback for a moment.

"You've been avoiding me because he called me a devil, haven't you?" Steve asked, still confused about his friends blunt answer.

"Nope, I've been avoiding you because I have something else to do." Darren motioned for him to follow him. Steve was still confused, so that could be the reason he blindly followed. Once they got to Darren's house, he led Steve up to his room where he kept the spider.

"Woah, where did you get this?" Steve asked admiring the spider. Darren was silent until Steve got it.

"You stole a vampires pet!" Steve exclaimed looking at Darren with awe.

"Can you do tricks?" he asked. Darren nodded.

"Have you gotten her to make a web in your mouth yet?" Steve asked excitedly. Darren shook his head.

"You need two for that." Steve volunteered.

The jist of this moment is; Steve and Darren had the spider all the way up to the neck. Annie barged in saw the spider and screamed. The spider bit Steve paralyzing him. Darren threw the spider out the window. Mr. Crepsley caught the thing, smirked and took off. Darren told Annie to get mom to call an ambulance.

In the waiting room at the hospital Darren and Amaimon sat together.

"It's a shame he got bitten. He was interesting." Darren agreed, interesting nothing more. Being with Amaimon for a year in that dimension Darren came to have no emotional ties to his friends. He still cared about his sister and his mother because they shared blood with him. He even found the father he grew up around just interesting. Boring people he could care less about. Speaking of, Steve's mom ran in screaming. Darren perked up a bit at this. She went from boring to amusing in seconds.

"What have you done to Steve?" She screamed at Darren who had managed to wipe the amused smirk off his face. She was dragged away by his mother.

"Don't worry son, she doesn't blame you." Darren's father said placing a hand on his shoulder.

After being questioned by the doctor Darren decided he would go get the antidote from Mr. Crepsley. He found him in an abandoned amusement park.

"My my, aren't you late?" Crepsley said from atop what appeared to be the spinning swings. Darren simply stared at him.

"As of right now this is my bed, but you have done some entertaining things." He said looking down at him. Darren could easily jump up there if he wanted to, but this man interested him. Perhaps he would be entertaining for a while.

"CREPSLEY!" Darren yelled, somehow managing to sound angry and bored at the same time.

"My, what a frightened face you have." Crepsley said landing on the ground. Darren was a little confused, he wasn't scared.

"... What?" Darren said. Crepsley ignored him and simply moved onto the next part. Perhaps he had a script planned?

"Did you come to take Madam back?"

"Not really..." Darren said still slightly confused by this man.

"Oh dear that's very rude to the lady, Madam even said she was interested in you." Crepsley said. Darren just scratched his head and started eating another lollipop.

"She wants another slice of pizza from you..." Darren was started getting annoyed.

"She bit Steve." Darren stated.

"Hmm Steve eh, my, he was frightening." Crepsley said.

"I want to save Steve. I know you have an antidote." Darren said. Crepsley pulled out the antidote and showed it to him.

"That's it! I'll do anything!" Darren said. He expected a lot of entertainment from Steve. He wasn't ready for him to die just yet.

"Oh I see this boy understands very well. I felt that back when you left me the note." He said. Darren could tell he was winding up to something.

"If you need it so badly I might be willing to give it to you...However I distinctly recall you saying something along the lines of 'I'll do anything'..." Crepsley said. He pointed at him dramatically,

"Become a vampire Darren Shan!"

"... I don't know if I can do that..." Crepsley was shocked. He didn't expect that blunt answer. He'd expected something along the lines of 'Anything but that!' or something.

"What do you mean?" Darren was sucking on another lollipop.

"I mean I don't think I'm physically capable of becoming a vampire." Darren said.

"Can I go talk to Nii-san and get back to you?" Darren asked. Crepsley could only nod dumbly as the boy walked away.

"A vampire, huh?" Amaimon said eating a grape lollipop.

"Yeah that was his condition." Darren said Sucking on a cherry.

"Well it should be fine. Your demon blood will pretty much say 'hell no' the most you'll end up with is enough to be considered a 'half vampire' but even then it'll be like a tenth." Amaimon continued.

"Okay, thanks Nii-san." Darren got up to go see the vampire.

"Are you sure these guys are worth it?" Amaimon called; concerned the little brother he liked was being stupid.

"Trust me, both of them promise years of entertainment." Darren said.

AN/ Wow didn't expect to get a review. At least not this quickly. Well hope your enjoying it. And don't worry I'm not ready for Amaimon to be written out of the story. I sorta glazed over the whole spider thing because even I wasn't sure how my Darren would react to that. Ciao~

CDoD


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Darren went back to Crepsley to give him the answer. Crepsley, who had been waiting, met him at the entrance to the amusement park.

"Have you considered my offer?" he asked looking down at Darren.

"I'll take it; I'm not quite ready for Steve to die." Darren said Unwrapping a butterscotch candy before popping it into his mouth.

"Very well I'll just have to test your blood first." He said piercing Darren's fingertip with his sharp nails. He didn't notice Darren's claw like nails as he did so. He tasted the blood and claimed it satisfactory. As he began performing the ritual he commented idly;

"Your blood tastes like cherry syrup." It must be from all the cherry lollipops, Darren thought. Perhaps that was why Crepsley hadn't noticed the fact he was attempting to blood the child of a demon. Darren wondered if his demon blood would do anything to Crepsley; since it was after all coursing through him and into Crepsley. It returned back to him in a huge rush that was faster than normal.

"Is it over? I don't feel any different..." Darren said eating a cherry lollipop.

"Give it some time for the effects." He said fixing his sleeve cuffs.

They arrived at the hospital through the window. Crepsley administered the antidote while Darren watched. After the antidote had taken effect they watched as the first signs of life came back into Steve.

"He should be fine now." A nurse walked in and saw the two hovering above the bed. She screamed but they quickly disappeared out the open window. She rushed over to Steve; checking his vitals she noted with shock that there was a massive improvement. Running out of the room she went to tell the doctor.

Meanwhile Darren and Crepsley were on a roof. Darren pulled out another cherry lollipop and popped it in his mouth.

"So what now?" Darren asked looking over at Crepsley. After a long winded explanation that Darren hadn't asked for they were off flitting with Darren riding piggyback... Yeah that was cool.

Darren watched as his house passed by. Gripped by the strange feeling Darren became very familiar with after becoming a demon. It was called curiosity. He let go and fell, landing a few blocks away from his house. 'I wonder how Steve will have changed after his encounter with death.' He mused walking off to his house ignoring Crepsley's speech in the background. (YAY for Crepsley's unnecessary speeches ^.^) Darren tried to open the door only to find that it was locked; so he rang the doorbell. His parents opened it to find him on the other side.

"Darren! Where have you been we were worried!" his mother exclaimed looking him up and down noting his dirtied clothing. His sister rushed out to her brother, hugging him tightly she cried.

"I thought they took you to prison!" Darren looked shocked. His mother changed the subject quickly:

"Steve regained consciousness." She said smiling. Darren's eyes sparked with interest and he put a smile on his face.

"That's great!" It was wonderful news to know that one of Darren's 'toys' were back on their feet.

The next week passed by quickly, Darren began noticing the changes. His teeth could now cut through metal; he was slightly more energetic; any other changes went unnoticed because of his demonic powers. Heading out to school he placed a broken fork in the trashcan. He walked to school.

Aside from Steve being back school went normally, until lunch when everything went downhill. Although Darren could care less about the humans in the school he didn't want the exorcists to find him and Amaimon and generally tried not to betray his true power, it tended to slip out when a competitive alpha-male attitude took over. This was how he ended up hurting the human Allan and garnering suspicion from Steve.

Amaimon was waiting for him at the entrance of the school. He handed Darren some candy as they began walking.

"Have fun, little brother?" Amaimon asked. Darren's face finally broke into the grin he had been holding back all day.

"Lots." He said with satisfaction.

AN/ There you have it. I haven't set up a schedule for this or anything, so I'll try to update as the inspiration comes and goes, until I set up a schedule... Thanks for reading my story.

CDoD


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Darren and Amaimon were sitting together on the side of a wall. Amaimon was eating a grape flavoured lollipop while Darren was eating a cherry.

"Nii-san, I'm getting bored here..." Darren said kicking out his legs. This life here was so monotonous. Wake up, go to school, go home, go to bed, it was so _boring..._

"Me too brother. Why don't we leave?" Darren looked at his half brother curiously.

"Not a horrible idea... But they'll come looking." Darren replied.

"Hmmm." Amaimon stared thoughtfully at the ground.

"Hey what about that guy?" Darren said suddenly.

"Who?" Amaimon asked.

"The Crepsley dude who tried to turn me into a vampire." Darren explained an idea forming in his head.

"Why don't we see if he'll help us? I did want to see where he ended up. He was interesting." Amaimon looked at his younger brother strangely.

"Do you really think he'd help you just because you were bored and needed a change of scenery?" Darren looked a little crestfallen.

"No. Hey what if I say something silly like 'I attacked my friend, I'm a monster.' You think he'd buy that?" Darren brightened. Amaimon considered it.

"Perhaps, humans and even vampires are stupid and gullible. And you're a good actor." Darren laughed.

"You don't need to be a good actor with humans." Darren jumped off the wall.

"I'm done with this place; I think I'll go find him tonight." Darren said over his shoulder as he walked away from Amaimon. Amaimon waved.

"I think Aniki will be thrilled with Darren." Amaimon whispered to himself as he walked off in the opposite direction...

Night fell, and Darren when to the first place he thought Crepsley would be, the old theatre where the cirque was held. He was there, in the first place Darren thought of. He was really beginning to rethink the thought that Crepsley was interesting... He was so _predictable. _Darren shrugged off his disgust and prepared his sob story.

"I thought it was about time for you to show up. What happened?" Crepsley asked.

"_I got bored, _I attacked a friend." Darren said putting on his most tragic face.

"Well at least no one died." Crepsley said closing his eyes. Darren remained silent while making strange faces at Crepsley while his eyes were closed.

"I'll follow you and do what you say." Darren crossed his fingers behind his back. Crepsley turned away.

"You may not believe me, but I understand your feelings." Crepsley said, Darren stuck his tongue out at the man but quickly pulled it back in and resumed his tragic face as Crepsley turned around.

"Now! We have much to do! As my subordinate your duties will pile up quickly!" Crepsley exclaimed.

"But first we must kill you, fake your death!" Darren nodded, unwrapping a lollipop he asked,

"How?"

"I have a potion of sorts that will make you appear dead, and I can break your neck after you take it and you won't feel a thing, it'll be healed by the time the potion wears off." Darren nodded, then turned and began walking home.

"You let me know when you're ready." He called over his shoulder.

Darren had to go through a few more days of monotony before his last day in that forsaken trap had arrived. He finally decided to stir some things up in the Shan household before he-and Amaimon left it.

"Mother, is 'Dad' my real father?" Darren's mother dropped the dishes she had been washing.

"What would make you ask that?" She asked nervously.

"The fact that I look nothing like him." Darren answered bluntly. His eyes were blue, while no one else in his family had blue eyes, and his black hair came from his mother. Of course he knew who his real father was, Darren just wanted to see what his mother knew.

"...Okay, you deserve to know the truth, he's not your father. I don't remember anything about the night you were conceived, I woke up and I was pregnant with you." She finished in a rush. Darren's 'Father' entered the room and there was a tense silence. Darren smirked behind his hand.

"Well, I'm off, good-bye 'Dad'" Darren said walking out the door. His secret smirk turned into a full blow maniacal grin.

"Have something fun planned Outoto?" Amaimon asked.

"Definitely." Darren said Crunching down on a butterscotch candy.

Arriving at school Darren controlled his face and prepared to unleash all of hell upon the unsuspecting school. Well not all of it just most of its inhabitants. That day the teachers were fighting with floating chalk and cracking chalkboards, more than a few of them were afflicted with temptaint and the students were facing similar attacks as well as missing candy. Darren had decided to stock up before he 'died' it seemed. Walking home he was assaulted by Amaimon.

"Darren I'm bored let's play." Playing involved fighting until they were exhausted. Darren agreed and they found a nice secluded spot to let themselves fight to their full potential. Darren used his fire and Amaimon used the earth itself. They exchanged punches and kicks, Darren managed to land a vicious kick to the side of Amaimon's head, but Amaimon retaliated by yanking on Darren's tail, who gave an undignified yelp and leapt away from Amaimon rubbing his tail.

"That was a low blow! It hurt!" Darren fumed. Amaimon ducked his head guiltily.

"Sorry." Darren huffed some more but accepted the apology.

"Cmon it should be almost time anyway." Darren said walking toward the house.

The family plus Amaimon ate dinner at the usual time, went to bed at the usual time. And Crepsley snuck into the house. Amaimon saw him but said nothing.

"Ready?" Crepsley asked taking the potion out. Darren merely took the potion and swallowed it. Immediately he felt the effects kick in and his body stiffened. Crepsley effectively snapped Darren's neck before throwing him out the window. The next few hours before Darren's body was discovered were passed by Darren manipulating his fire to incinerate any demons that came near. After that Darren retreated into a sleep-like state of consciousness until he felt someone poking and prodding him. Darren clawed himself back up into awareness just in time for someone to forcefully open his eyes and shine a bright light into them. He wanted to flinch back from the bright light but he still couldn't move. The person obviously found what they were looking for because they turned off the light closed his eyes and exited the room Darren had been placed in.

The day after, Darren was buried. After the ceremony had been concluded Darren waited patiently for Crepsley to arrive and dig him up. He soon heard the 'thunk' of a shovel hitting the top of his coffin and he was assaulted by moonlight and Crepsley's face grinning down on him. Darren shot up out of the coffin covering his eyes from the assault of light.

"How do you feel?" Crepsley asked as he watched Darren crawl out of the grave.

"_Like I'm going to bite your face off. _Fine...Just a little stiff." Darren replied stretching, he sniffed the air and found two very familiar scents.

"I'm going to take a walk." Darren called to Crepsley as he walked away, he got a sound of acknowledgement from the vampire as Crepsley filled in the hole where Darren had been buried. A hand shot out and caught Darren as he was passing. Before he knew it, Darren was staring down the business end of a wooden stake. The most Darren could muster up was a slight widening of his eyes and an exasperated sigh.

"Hello Steve." Darren said forcing the point of the stake away from his heart with one finger.

"How could you, Traitor!" Steve said angrily.

"How could I what?" Darren replied, raising an eyebrow.

"You knew I wanted to be a vampire, you had this planned all along didn't you?"

"I can assure you I did not; although it was an interesting twist."

"Why did you do it?" Steve growled forcing the stake back to its original position. Darren was tempted to use his flame and reduce the stake to ash, but he resisted. AQ rookie vampire hunter Darren could handle, but if Steve found out demons were real, and in that case exorcists, Darren wouldn't be able to handle that.

"To save you." Darren deadpanned.

"That's a lie! Stop pretending to be my friend!" Steve said, but his grip on the stake lessened, Darren, who was growing bored of this topic easily removed himself from Steve's grip and stood over him grinning madly.

"Friend? Haha! That's funny, I was never your _friend, _you are my _toy ._I _saved_ you because broken toys are _boring."_ Darren said giggling madly. Steve was backing away from Darren at this point and his eyes showed a sliver of fear.

"Haha, go away Steve, get stronger, and show me I didn't make a mistake saving your sorry ass. Show me you are a fun toy!" Darren was still laughing as Steve ran away. Amaimon slunk out of the shadows as Steve left.

"Why didn't you use your flames?" He asked while handing Darren a blood red lollipop, raspberry flavour.

"And expose him to demons? I don't need a toy that powerful just yet." Darren laughed around the sucker. Amaimon nodded slightly, showing he understood.

"Well, I'm going away for a little while because I need to go to Gehenna and see father. These two are for you, they'll keep you company." Amaimon said beckoning to two goblins that walked out of the shadows. They were both black and white. One had a whit spot on the top of its head in the shape of a crown, while the other had black and white stripes with a red and black belly. Darren immediately decided to call them Bloodshed and Blasphemy.

"Okay. Thank you Nii-san." Amaimon nodded then turned and summoned his personal portal to Gehenna, if anyone else attempted to go through it they would die. It had been made by Satan. Darren waved as the portal swallowed Amaimon and disappeared. He turned and walked back to Crepsley, who was just patting the earth flat over the grave.

"Ready to go?" Crepsley asked breaking the shovel in half and tossing it. Darren nodded and climbed onto Crepsley's back so they could flit away..

_**AN/: How was that? Up next I'll be covering the second book as 'Part Two' so await the next chapter as I have already started writing it. Remember to review with comments, criticism, or whatever. ^.^**_

_**CDoD**_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six

Two months later.

'_I was so wrong..._' Darren thought. He was sitting in front of the window looking outside with his chin resting on the windowsill, a bit of saliva leaking out of the corner of his mouth from sheer boredom.

'Crepsley is not as interesting a toy as I had first thought.' Darren absentmindedly scratched behind Bloodshed and Blasphemy's ears. It was daytime so Crepsley was asleep, Darren couldn't play with him right now, Amaimon was still visiting Gehenna and he had no other 'toys' seeing as Steve was off trying to become a vampire hunter. 'Better that than an exorcist.' Darren thought popping a piece of candy in his mouth he decided to go out.

Darren was walking down the street of a small neighbourhood near the hotel they were staying at. He was still bored, but at least he was doing something while he was. He needed some toys that were awake during the day. Darren continued walking until he stumbled upon a group of kids who were playing hockey. They asked him if he wanted to join in. Darren agreed hoping they would at least alleviate his boredom. Sadly they left much to be desired, and Darren was just bored while playing hockey. Until one of them decided to get rough and 'accidentally' smash his hockey stick against the base of Darren's spine, wrenching his tail (which had been uncomfortably wrapped around his torso) upwards painfully. Darren managed to cover up the animalistic squeal of pain that escaped his mouth as he began to see red. In one quick motion Darren was up, running and sweeping the boy's legs from under him by the knees. The boy fell to the ground with a scream of agony while Darren just watched coolly. The boy's legs were a mangled bloody mess of flesh and bone.

"Holy crap! Look at his legs!" one of the other boys said, panic in his voice.

"Someone call an ambulance!" Another called.

"That guy's a demon!" One said looking straight at Darren, who grinned showing his fangs, and walked off.

The next evening as they were settling down to eat the rabbit stew Darren had prepared Crepsley finally broached the subject.

"What happened back in town?" Darren grimaced in an attempt to keep the grin from appearing on his face. Mr. Crepsley mistook the grimace as one of sadness. Darren was still sulking from Crepsley's choice of sleeping arrangements, an abandoned church. There had been jugs of (holy) water, and walls and a roof over their heads, which were covered in wards and seals that defended against demons. Darren could break through the wards fairly easily, but it still stung each time he did so. Crepsley could walk through easily and he drank the holy water, _'odd'_... Darren made a note of that in his notebook. He had assumed that vampires would be similar to demons, and therefore have similar weaknesses. Darren glanced up from his reverie and realized Crepsley was still awaiting an answer.

"I hurt someone, broke his legs." He said chewing on his thumbnail. Crepsley watched him with concern.

"Something has been bothering you..." He stated hoping to get Darren to open up. Darren continued to chew his thumbnail in thought.

'_How do I phrase it...? I need some...Toys? No that's not right...Oh friends! That's it!_'

"I need friends." Darren said. Crepsley nodded in understanding.

"I understand, and I have been thinking... What if we—"Crepsley began, but stopped when he saw a figure detach itself from the shadows and place a hand on Darren's shoulder.

"Yo." Amaimon said, raising the hand that wasn't resting on Darren's shoulder in greeting.

"Hey, Nii-san." Darren replied easily. It took Crepsley a few moments to place his face but he soon remembered him as the foreign exchange student staying at Darren's house.

"...He's not supposed to know that you are alive." Crepsley said to Darren, pointing to Amaimon with shock.

"Well, obviously he knows that I am in fact not dead, so what now?" Darren asked. Crepsley pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Nothing can be done now. As I had been saying, what if we rejoined the Cirque?" Darren perked up at the suggestion.

"Okay, when do we leave?" Darren asked, dishing out a helping of stew for Amaimon, who sat down beside Darren and accepted the plate. Darren poured some milk into a saucepan and set it on the ground. It was a routine that made Crepsley wonder if Darren was completely sane. He said it was for his pets, but Crepsley never saw anything, but the milk was always gone when Darren picked the saucepan back up. It was curious, almost as curious as the second person sitting across from him. He had green and black hair and a bored expression. Long black fingernails and wearing a pair of green, elbow length glove that were missing the fingers. Overall his wardrobe would be considered punk. Crepsley watched as Amaimon reached into his pocket and pulled out a box of what Crepsley first assumed to be cigarettes, (and they were, but of the chocolate variety) and offered one to Darren, who gladly took it and munched on it happily, paper and all(1). Crepsley decided to ponder the odd behaviour of the two, and told them to start packing while he located the Cirque. They complied and set off to gather everything.

"So what did Father say?" Darren asked packing up the foldable dishes they'd used for supper. Amaimon was scratching Bloodshed's stomach while Blasphemy attempted to gain Darren's attention.

"He was happy that you were unsealed and adapting to your powers easily, but he was pretty distracted. Apparently we have a younger brother named Rin." Amaimon said chewing his thumbnail.

"Really? How old is he?" Darren asked curiously. Amaimon nodded.

"About ten I think. He was born here in Assiah, like you." He replied standing up. They had finished packing while they spoke, and went to find Crepsley.

Crepsley met them.

"I found out where they are, and they are not far from here so we can just flit and get there quickly, except..." Crepsley glanced at Amaimon. Darren followed his glance.

"Don't worry about Nii-san, he'll probably get there before us." Crepsley looked at Darren oddly, then to Amaimon who didn't seem to be paying attention. He shrugged and let it go.

They arrived at the Cirque. There were a few tents and vans scattered about the clearing. The Cirque had set up camp in the middle of nowhere. As Darren had predicted, Amaimon was already waiting for them.

"Yo." Crepsley just gave up trying to understand how the green haired man did anything. Instead he led them to Mr. Tall's tent. Arriving there, they were ushered into his trailer, and sitting in a chair sipping tea was a demon that Darren didn't recognize, but Amaimon and Crepsley did.

"Aniki." Amaimon said, nodding to him.

"Mephisto Pheles." Crepsley greeted curtly, nodding to the gaily dressed man. Mephisto acknowledged Amaimon with a nod and turned his attention to Darren and Crepsley.

"Larten Crepsley, always a pleasure I'm sure." Mephisto tipped his hat to Crepsley and turned to examine Darren.

"So this is one of our newest outotos huh?" He grinned, poking him with his umbrella.

AN/: Wooh that chapter didn't take long to write, ut it took ages to copy from my 'special notebook' . Mephisto made an appearance and Rin was mentioned. Yay!

Have you ever had a chocolate cigarette before? Theyre good and wrapped in paper so they look like real cigarettes, somebody looked at me like i was evil when i ate one. I think i was in a movie theatre.

Review please~

CDoD


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